Fox News Cheap Shots L.L. Cool J For Saying He Was Being Misrepresented In Promotion of Sarah Palin

If anyone ever wanted additional evidence of how dirty the power people at Fox News can be then a good recent example is rapper and actor L.L. Cool J.

In its ongoing efforts to provide high-profile platform to potential candidates for president of the United States, Fox News has handed former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin a new show on its airwaves. Palin, who cut her teeth on a grueling half of one term as governor of Alaska, ditched that job to make money and chase the media spotlight. As part of her run to fame and riches, Palin has jumped into bed with the network that conservatives (but really no one else) trust: far right Fox News.

Anyone, I will get to the excerpt from TVNewser:

A Fox News spokesperson tells TVNewser, “Real American Stories features uplifting tales about overcoming adversity and we believe Mr. Smith’s interview fit that criteria. However, as it appears that Mr. Smith [LL Cool J] does not want to be associated with a program that could serve as an inspiration to others, we are cutting his interview from the special and wish him the best with his fledgling acting career.”

As you can see, Fox News takes a cheap shot at L.L. Cool J in typical Fox News fashion because he didn’t quietly play along with their misleading exploitation (a clip used in an effort to promote Sarah Palin’s new Fox show, Real American Stories) of an older interview he conducted. In its attack, Fox News seems to tip its hand at what its real motive for having him on as a guest might have been: having a black man on their show that they felt could appeal to minorities, a hip-hop segment of the population and younger generation.

From Media Matters for America:

But LL Cool J never said he did not “want to be associated with a program that could serve as an inspiration to others,” he simply said that Fox has “lifted an old interview I gave in 2008 to someone else & are misrepresenting to the public in order to promote Sarah Palins Show.” In other words, he took issue with Fox building up Palin’s debut with a blatant falsehood.

And in fairness to Mr. Cool J, Fox does strongly suggest — in all of its promotional materials for Palin’s show — that LL Cool J, Toby Keith, and Jack Welch were interviewed by Palin, or had somehow purposefully attached themselves to her show (you can see the video on the Media Matters page).

Fox News wanted L.L. to be their token “diversity” guest and when he benignly said that he felt the Fox video promotion was not an accurate portrayal of him, the network declares all out media war on him.

Ann Coulter And Credibility Are Enemies, But This Seals The Deal

Right wing extremist Ann Coulter, who like so many others of her kind finds a home on Fox News, attempted to come to the rescue of former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. In her botched rescue event, however, Coulter ended up looking like even more of a nut when she attempted to push her foolish point that Palin (a two-term governor who quit on her beloved state to sell books, make money and work on Fox News) is 20 million times more qualified than Vice President Joe Biden, a long-time former U.S. senator.

COULTER: How about comparing Joe Biden with Sarah Palin? She’s twenty million times more qualified than he is.

GERALDO RIVERA: How do you say that? A two-year governor against a long Senate career. Anyway –

COULTER: How long are we gonna pretend Biden is not just some drunken Irishman embarrassing Obama?

There’s all the evidence you need of how much of an irrational nut Ann Coulter is and how she seems to fit in so nicely at Fox News.

Then, in the end, she shows how much of a hater she is with a vicious stereotype used to attack Vice President Biden.

Another quality Fox News personality.

Fox News Excuse Making For Sarah Palin Begins

Most of us could care less about whether or not politicians use teleprompters or read it off a sheet of paper when giving speeches. I do find it interesting, however, the large number of people using this to attack President Obama (as if no other president has ever used a teleprompter or read a speech off sheets of paper). So, whether it’s Barack Obama, President Reagan, President Bush, President Clinton or gold ole former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, it really makes no difference to me how they deliver a speech. But, for some reason, it does seem to spark something inside of Sarah Palin who seems to be taking wild shots at President Obama (like a boxer in the final round down on points and needing a miracle knockout to win). Getting in front of the Tea Party nuts sparked something inside of her to go after the president again and prove that the Tea Party movement is little more than an extremist splinter group of the GOP.

Fox and Friends, and its Republican hosts, went on the defensive to defend Palin for using notes to deliver her speech (as just about anyone on Fox is apt to do when it comes to Palin).

Gretchen Carlson, Steve Doocy and Brian Kilmeade (all right wingers) go out of their way to do damage control for the Fox News newbie Palin and her campaign (which is in the silent phase aided by the network conservatives trust).

CARLSON: I think she did it on purpose.

DOOCY: You do?

CARLSON: I think she did it on purpose. Yeah, because I think it’s an exact opposite of reading off the teleprompter. Reading off complete script written for you with every word in a sentence, and here she’s just taking crib notes on her hand. It makes it look as if she can just talk off the cuff and that she just jotted down a few couple notes before she went off to give a big, long speech.

KILMEADE: I am jealous.

DOOCY: I think she did — I think she did it because she probably does it a lot. I do that all the time.

KILMEADE: I personally am jealous, because I used to get in trouble if I wrote on my palms because my mom explained to me the ink would get through my pores and I would die. So I stopped doing that in the fifth grade.

DOOCY: Really?

KILMEADE: Why doesn’t she just — there’s nothing wrong with if she had a card. Just jot a card down — energy, taxes, hope, whatever it is. But — then no one has a problem. But to sit there and look at — do the interview and then look down at her hand, I think that is — it’s, like you said, Gretchen, before, folksy, absolutely. Down to earth. I can identify. But if you’re going to write it on your hand, why not just say, staffer, can you hand me a card? And then it would have been OK.

CARLSON: Like I say, I think it was on purpose. But anyway, we may never know.

Once again, Fox News comes to the rescue of their beloved Sarah Palin.

Check out how conservatives are rushing to the aid of Palin, who quit on Alaska (to make money selling books and gain publicity for herself) and yet criticizes other leaders for their leadership.

Sarah Palin Attacks Presidency, Barack Obama

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who quit on the state of Alaska, is now lecturing President Obama on what it means to be a leader in an appalling display at the far-right Tea Party Convention.

Once again, Palin proves that she didn’t get it then and she still does not get it now as she goes around the country cashing in on her fame and promoting herself on Fox News.

Media Matters for America:

http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/201002080002

The Majority Of Blacks Lean Left, But That Doesn’t Stop Name Calling

I found this kind of interesting as I took one of my many daily travels through the blogosphere in search of interesting little nuggets. On the blog, Politics, Policy, Pathology and Hope WITHIN The Black Community, I found this finish to a blog entry:

There are two names that one will never be called in Black America (OK – 3 now that I think about it)

1. “You are a left-wing extremist”
2. “You are carrying the water for the Democrats”
3. “You have sold out to Barack Obama where you care more about his political fortunes than you do your own permanent interests”.

Here are a few thoughts I had off the top of my head:

1. First and foremost, this is pretty much assumed of many black people (in and out of the media). Secondly, does the name Van Jones ring a bell?
2. Pretty much any black person who goes on television, as a liberal, is presumed to be carrying the water for the Democrats (so it doesn’t necessarily need to be spelled out explicitly).
3. Oprah Winfrey was nailed with this charge during the campaign by conservatives who became angry that she did not give Sarah Palin, then the vice presidential candidate, a forum on Oprah’s popular syndicated talk show.

Those are just a few examples off the top of my head.

Now, for the most part, these are indeed labels a lot of blacks do not have to fear, but that is mostly because many people simply assume all blacks are in the corner of Democrats.

A FEW SIDE NOTES: I am not sure that everyone would agree with Sen. Evan Bayh about the Democrats moving too far to the left. Some would say (considering the Dems gave in on aspects of health care, sending more troops to war, etc., that President Obama has moved too far to the middle and has upset his base). That is just something to think about with this kind of discussion. Also, keep in mind, Sen. Bayh is trying to position himself as a centrist for political purposes.

More Proof That Glenn Beck And Bill O’Reilly Are Nuts

Just when you thought Glenn Beck (pictured) and Bill O’Reilly could not prove to be any nuttier, we have this (from Media Matters for America):

O’REILLY: Why do you think there’s a level of hatred against you and against me that there is? I mean, look, I was kidding about Bill Maher before. I don’t hate Bill Maher. I like –

BECK: I don’t either.

O’REILLY: I mean, he’s not my kind of guy, but I don’t want to hurt him. I don’t, you know — I’ll make fun of him. But these people want to hurt us. They want to hurt us. Why do you think that is?

BECK: I think because that’s the only way you can win the argument. Look, I mean –

O’REILLY: But they can’t win the argument.

BECK: No, I know that. So what do you do? It is — I mean, it’s why Woodrow Wilson put thousands of Americans behind bars. If you can’t win the argument, you have to shout them down, you have to call them racist, you have to call them names. You have to do whatever it is you have to do. If that doesn’t work, the revolutionary way is as Robert Creamer – as I pointed out on the show. Here’s a guy who went to prison for embezzlement — has designed the progressive blueprint that Obama is using. David Axelrod says that. In a newspaper article when I expose him, he says that we must do whatever we have to do, whatever it takes, to shut him down. Well, what do you think that means?

O’REILLY: Yeah. No, OK, I think that’s a good answer. There’s no other reason for it — other than jealousy.

This shows that Glenn Beck is nuts.

This is the same Glenn Beck who called President Obama and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor “racist” in different rants (which is puzzling since Barack Obama is half white).

This from the same Bill O’Reilly who routinely goes on the air and calls many who disagrees with him “loons,” “pinheads,” “kooks,” etc.

This from the same Bill O’Reilly who has his tough-guy “producer” stalk women like the vacationing Amanda Terkel from Think Progress (and then later crying like  a sissy because people bother poor Sarah Palin when she is on vacation).

This from the same Bill O’Reilly who routinely uses his platform to attack NBC and anything affiliated with it (to satisfy his personal vendetta).

Hypocrite Sarah Palin Is Back At It Again … Now Posing As A Birther

Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, the darling of the right-wing, is back at it again – this time giving comfort to the nutty birthers who continue to attack President Obama. Governor Palin, who cried about the media and people coming after her as she resigned from her position in governor’s office in Alaska, now is continuing to advance the pathetic mission of the birthers. During a segment on the show of a right-ring radio talker named Rusty Humphries, it was Palin who went out of her way to provide a soothing hand of comfort to the birther morons who just can’t seem to come to grips with the president of the United States of America being a black man. That’s right, I said it. I do believe that this birther movement largely is motivated by a strong prejudice.

As documented by Think Progress:

Yesterday while appearing on the right-wing radio show of Rusty Humphries, former Alaska governor Sarah Palin expressed her allegiance with the birther movement. She asserted that it was a “fair question” to ask whether President Obama was born in the U.S. “I think the public rightfully is still making it an issue,” she said. “I don’t have a problem with that.”

She doesn’t have a problem with it because she is a right-wing extremist, who has a bias against the president and you have to wonder if it is just a political and philosophical bias.

Think Progress then added her response:

After the media picked up her comments, Palin went on her Facebook page at 1:16 a.m. and criticized reporters for calling her a birther and pushing “stupid conspiracies”:

Voters have every right to ask candidates for information if they so choose. I’ve pointed out that it was seemingly fair game during the 2008 election for many on the left to badger my doctor and lawyer for proof that Trig is in fact my child. Conspiracy-minded reporters and voters had a right to ask… which they have repeatedly. But at no point – not during the campaign, and not during recent interviews – have I asked the president to produce his birth certificate or suggested that he was not born in the United States.

And, as Think Progress later pointed out, it was Palin who left the position of governor of Alaska crying about how the media and people were advancing all of these attacks on her. Then, she turns around and helps push an attack on President Obama that was long ago refuted. She cried about how the media, politicians and political operatives were attacking her and making it so difficult for her to conduct business (she was being dogged by allegations of ethics violations). Then she turns around and contributes to the same thing against President Obama.

Sarah Palin feels the “politics of personal destruction” are OK as long as they are directed at President Obama or some other Democrat and not directed at her.

Sarah Palin believes questions  from idiot birthers in regard to where President Obama was born are OK, but questions raised about potential ethics violations against her are part of the “politics of personal destruction.”

Sarah Palin is a hypocrite.

Think Progress:

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/12/04/palin-birthers-conspiracies/

Sarah Palin Goes Overseas To Bash President Obama, America

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, a former candidate for the vice presidency, has gone overseas to Hong Kong to attack our United States of America president, Barack Obama. But, Palin apparently repulsed some U.S. delegates so much that they walked out and commented, but refused to be identified so (apparently) as to not be linked to the new conservative hero. Palin turning people off is nothing new, but her going overseas to attack our president does speak to the kind of person she is and continues to become as the spotlight is attracted to her. It wasn’t that long ago that Americans who were criticizing a president were considered anti-American and thought of as being haters of America.

Here is an excerpt from the Huffington Post story:

HONG KONG — Former U.S. vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin, criticized for her lack of foreign policy experience, emerged in Asia on Wednesday to share her views from “Main Street U.S.A.” with a group of high-flying global investors.

In her first trip to the region, the former Alaska governor addressed an annual conference of investors in Hong Kong in what was billed as a wide-ranging talk about governance, economics and U.S. and Asian affairs.

Two US delegates left early, according to AFP, with one saying “it was awful, we couldn’t stand it any longer.” He declined to be identified.

“I’m going to call it like I see it and I will share with you candidly a view right from Main Street, Main Street U.S.A.,” Palin told a room full of asset managers and other finance professionals, according to a video of part of the speech obtained by The Associated Press. “And how perhaps my view of Main Street … how that affects you and your business.”

Palin spoke out against government intervention in the economy. “We got into this mess because of government interference in the first place,” Palin said, according to the Wall Street Journal. “We’re not interested in government fixes, we’re interested in freedom,” she added.

In what could be considered a paid attack, it seems Palin might have been paid for her speech to go to another area of the world to attack the President of the United States of America.

I wonder if conservatives will be attacking Palin for going over and using this platform to engage in partisan politics, attack the president and bring negativity to the U.S. before its worldwide neighbors.

Read more at:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/23/palin-hong-kong-speech-im_n_295812.html

O’Reilly Continues To Carry A Torch For Sarah Palin

Fox News right winger Bill O’Reilly continues to carry his torch for Sarah Palin and trying to take a shot at the outgoing ABC anchor Charlie Gibson. Palin hurt herself in the interview by not being up on her politics and by poorly deflecting a question with an answer she could not deliver. O’Reilly was spinning in the so-called No Spin Zone. Palin has to accept responsibility for her own failures. O’Reilly is taking a shot at Gibson more so to rehabilitate Palin’s badly-damaged reputation among the American people than to smear Gibson. Face O’Reilly, people don’t see Sarah Palin as this feminist hero that conservatives (like O’Reilly see her as being). To the right wingers, she is a hero (their white female version of Barack Obama). But, unlike Obama, she fails to appeal to the mainstream who see her obvious shortcomings (as much as conservatives try to blame others for them) all too vividly. She (far too often) flopped badly on the national stage when she was not in carefully coordinated situations with people out to serve her best interest (like O’Reilly colleague and fellow right winger Sean Hannity). Sorry Bill, but the interview speaks for itself and no amount of attempting to portray Charlie Gibson in a negative (and petty) way will erase the memories of Sarah Palin’s poor performance. It will take more than excuses, finger pointing and spin to rebuild Palin’s reputation on the national stage.

Media Matters for America:

http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/200909080048

This Is Why It’s Silly To Consider Sarah Palin As President

Republicans still holding out hope of Sarah Palin coming down for Alaska and rescuing the downtrodden GOP should look elsewhere for its next hero. Once again, the former Alaska governor is at it again bringing her children into politics, using the politics of fear and quoting the nutty Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann. This is a perfect example of the politics of fear. President Obama and the Democrats have not done everything right in trying to sell health care to the nation, but they’ve gotten little help from the fear mongering, Grand Obstructionist Party (the Republicans).

Consider this from Palin, as posted on her Facebook page:

As more Americans delve into the disturbing details of the nationalized health care plan that the current administration is rushing through Congress, our collective jaw is dropping, and we’re saying not just no, but hell no!

The Democrats promise that a government health care system will reduce the cost of health care, but as the economist Thomas Sowell has pointed out, government health care will not reduce the cost; it will simply refuse to pay the cost. And who will suffer the most when they ration care? The sick, the elderly, and the disabled, of course. The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama’s “death panel” so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their “level of productivity in society,” whether they are worthy of health care. Such a system is downright evil.

Health care by definition involves life and death decisions. Human rights and human dignity must be at the center of any health care discussion.

Rep. Michele Bachmann highlighted the Orwellian thinking of the president’s health care advisor, Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, the brother of the White House chief of staff, in a floor speech to the House of Representatives. I commend her for being a voice for the most precious members of our society, our children and our seniors.

We must step up and engage in this most crucial debate. Nationalizing our health care system is a point of no return for government interference in the lives of its citizens. If we go down this path, there will be no turning back. Ronald Reagan once wrote, “Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we’ll ever see on this earth.” Let’s stop and think and make our voices heard before it’s too late.

Apparently it’s OK for her kids to be thrust into the media (and exploited) when its to her advantage.

Palin is flying off the deep end and sounds even more desperate every time we hear from her.

Sarah Palin Can’t Answer Questions She Should Be Able To … Fox Nation Blames Questioners

Gov. Sarah Palin struggles to answer questions that a vice presidential candidate should be able to answer (or at least look decent dancing around it) and who gets the blame: interviewers like Charlie Gibson and Katie Couric. It’s not Sarah’s fault, she didn’t know what the “Bush Doctrine” was, couldn’t name U.S. Supreme Court cases other than Roe v. Wade and couldn’t (or wouldn’t) name newspapers she reads … it’s that darned mainstream media according to the good Americans at Fox Nation. Gibson is being nominated for am Emmy for his interview with Palin and Fox does not like that.

Emmy Nominations for Palin Hatchet Jobs

Nominations for the 30th Annual News and Documentary Emmy Awards were announced today. PBS picked up the most nominations with 41. CBS News followed with 23; ABC News has 13; NBC 10; CNN 8; BBC America with 3; and MSNBC has 2.

Here is part of the story Fox Nation links to:

Nominations for the 30th Annual News and Documentary Emmy Awards were announced today. PBS picked up the most nominations with 41. CBS News followed with 23; ABC News has 13; NBC 10; CNN 8; BBC America with 3; and MSNBC has 2.”60 Minutes” leads all shows with 15 nominations. “World News with Charles Gibson” has the most nominations for the evening newscasts with 7; “Nightly News with Brian Williams” picks up 5, including for Breaking News coverage of the death of Tim Russert; and the CBS “Evening News with Katie Couric” has 3 nominations, including for Couric’s “Campaign Questions” series during the 2008 election.

• CNN has two Breaking News-Long Form nominations — for coverage of the Democratic National Convention and for Election Night.

• NBC News is the only broadcast network nominated for its Election Night Coverage.

• Charlie Gibson is nominated for his interview with Sarah Palin.

Media Bistro:

http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/awards_accolades/news_documentary_emmy_nominations_announced_121533.asp

Biased Fox Nation Takes Shot At Kerry, Leaves Palin Alone

Conservatives have been trying to portray (outgoing) Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as some kind of victim of media bias since the early stages of the presidential campaign of 2008. Fox Nation, the blog wing of the Fox News conservative empire, took a shot at Sen. John Kerry, calling him “Long Face” in a headline of one of its entries:

‘Long Face’ Takes Another Swipe at Palin

Call it Kerry vs. Palin, Round 2.Massachusetts Democrat Sen. John Kerry, a longtime Obama ally, and Alaska’s Republican Gov. Sarah Palin are sparring again, this time over climate change and energy policy.

Well, nothing like the “fair and balanced” people at Fox. You see, to Fox, it’s OK for Palin to rip on anyone, but heaven help you if you say anything critical of her.

Bill O’Reilly Brings On John Ziegler To Talk About Sarah Palin

Bill O’Reilly returned to the plantation (also known as The O’Reilly Factor) and hosted the far-right John Ziegler to discussSarah Palin’s decision to resign as governor of Alaska. The problem is … O’Reilly, a definite right winger posing as an impartial talk show host, clearly was not up front about John Ziegler’s very strong pro-Palin, blind-rage bias. O’Reilly seemed to try and portray Ziegler as some random radio talk show host who happened to have an opinion about Sarah Palin.

By the way, he just had Karl Rove (one of George W Bush’s right-hand men) on the show with no balance and he is bringing on Mary K. Ham and Juan Williams to probably try and portray President Obama as bankrupting the country.

Bill O’Reilly is definitely back and sitting comfortably to the far right of the political mainstream.

Fox News Analyst Liz Trotta Stuns With Harsh Criticism Of Sarah Palin

I watched (with absolute stunned disbelief), live, Fox News media analyst Liz Trotta as she ripped into Sarah Palin. Trotta, a true Fox News conservative shredded Palin so badly I was beginning to wonder if perhaps she was being too tough on the outgoing Alaska governor and should perhaps give Palin what boxing fans know as a standing eight count. Actually, I wasn’t going to blog anything about it. My approach, originally, was going to be to wait and see what others had to say and to see if anyone else came away with the same impression I had of the segment. Huffington Post writer Rachel Weiner had the same impression of the segment I had as I viewed it.

I got the impression the host felt Trotta had gone horribly off script with her criticisms of Palin. The host opened a segment by highlighting all of these criticisms of Palin and, from time to time, rolled up his sleeves and went to work in Palin’s defense.

Trotta certainly is no friend to liberals as she has shown repeatedly with jokes made in poor taste about Barack Obama and one-sided slams of figures who are not conservative and Republican.

In this case, however, she certainly took off the gloves and bloodied Sarah Palin before a national television audience on Fox News.

Here is part of what Huffington Post transcribed from the segment as Trotta lit into Palin:

“The woman is inarticulate, undereducated,” Trotta said, arguing that for once liberal criticism was “well-deserved.”

“I think all the liberal stylists … really have a case. She just begs for adjectives like flaky and wacky.” When pressed, she added, “We’re talking about somebody who, right from the get-go, has been a flashy person who gets into a lot of trouble and really has no credentials for any job.”

OUCH! Actually, I think Trotta was a little too harsh on Palin … especially bashing her education.

Crooks And Liars Points Out Sarah Palin’s Words Directed At Hillary Clinton

In March of 2008, at a during a Women and Leadership event, Sarah Palin had these words directed at then presidential candidate and U.S. Senator, Hillary Clinton (who now is Secretary of State), who had talked about some of the media scrutiny she had been enduring during her historic run toward the White House:

This is pointed out by Crooks and Liars:

PALIN: Fair or unfair, I think she does herself a disservice to even mention it… When I hear a statement like that coming from a woman candidate with any kind of perceived whine about that excess criticism or, you know, maybe a sharper microscope put on her, I think, man, that doesn’t do us any good. Women in politics, women in general wanting to progress this country. I don’t think it’s, it bodes well for her – a statement like that. … It bothers me a little bit hearing her bring that attention to herself on that level.

I wonder if Sarah Palin now bothers herself. Now, it seems Palin is the woman out front complaining about the media, complaining about her treatment, complaining about the treatment of her kids and her family at every turn. This is after she took a shot (probably politically motivated) at Hillary Clinton.

Great point made by Crooks and Liars (there is video there, too):

http://crooksandliars.com/jon-perr/after-calling-hillary-whiner-palin

Sarah Palin Quits As Alaska Governor

Sarah Palin quitting as governor of Alaska is probably not a really big surprise. The timing, however, is a little surprising to me.

Think Progress reads:

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) announced this morning from her home in Wasilla that she will not be seeking re-election and that she will be stepping down in a few weeks. Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell will be inaugurated as Alaska’s governor on July 25.

So, there are some questions we’re left to ponder: 1. Is Sarah Palin gearing up to make a run for the presidency in 2012? 2. Is there some scandal forcing her out? 3. Is she simply tired of politics and the media? Time will answer those questions and others. Indeed, there are probably a lot more questions, but those are some that come to mind at first thought.

Here’s another question: Is Palin a serious candidate for the presidency?

Personally, I just can’t see how she can be taken seriously as a presidential candidate. Republicans would be unbelievably stupid to nominate her for the presidency in 2012 (unless they want to put her up as a sacrificial lamb thinking President Obama could be unbeatable).

This is from Fox News right-wing (I know, it’s kind of redundant)contributor Charles Krauthammer as quoted by POLITICO:

Now, as to Palin, I agree entirely with what Mara said. She is — she has star power without any doubt. She has an extremely devoted following. But she is not a serious candidate for the presidency. 

She had to go home and study and spend a lot of time on issues in which she was not adept last year, and she hasn’t. She has to stop speaking in clichés and platitudes. It won’t work. 

It could work for eight weeks if you’re the number two candidate, as she was last year. But even so, she got singed a lot in that campaign. You cannot sustain a campaign of platitudes and clichés over a year and a half if you’re running for the presidency.

Palin can’t be taken seriously as a candidate for the presidency. If she was even going to attempt to be taken more seriously she would be better advised to take on a role as a senator or congresswoman. She was severely lacking on the national stage beyond one-dimensional popularity among hardcore right wingers who were pleased to see someone other than an old white guy become popular with the big “R” by their name.

Sarah Palin went out on the Alaskan stage the way she stepped onto (and off of) the national stage: Crying relentlessly about the media (an easy target), singing her own praises (the ones she could muster) and vomiting one-dimensional Republican talking points.

Palin would be best served to go home and chill out since “only dead fish go with the flow.”

It’s better than sleeping with the political fishes in 2012.

Michael Savage … Savages Common Sense

In the news, recently, we’ve seen two individuals Sen. John Ensign (downplayedby the talkers on right-wing media outlets like Fox News) and Gov. Mark Sanford go down to marital infidelity. So, what does right-wing talk show nut Michael Savage do … he finds some way to make their infidelity out to be something that is President Obama’s fault. If you listen to Savage, he seems to be indicating that this is some kind of plot from Obama to take down two of his potential rivals for the 2012 presidential election. Savage, the Republicans need very little help destroying themselves for 2012. Sanford and Ensign join others (like Gov. Sarah Palin and Newt Gingrich) who are perfectly capable of destroying their own candidacies.

Here is what Savage said: ”Obama’s team is taking out potential rivals one after another.”

Again, the Republicans are doing a good job of taking themselves out. In these cases, their problems are self-inflicted wounds.

Media Matters for America:

http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/200906260012

Savage on Ensign, Sanford scandals: “Obama’s team is taking out potential rivals one after another”

News Hounds Picks Up On Fox Nation Racism

Normally, I would not spend a whole lot of time commenting on the comments that (usually) anonymous people leave on blog sites. Fox Nation, the blog arm of the Fox News empire, has had continuing issues with hateful language on its blog site (as posted by readers). News Hounds has a blog entry about a series of racist comments directed at Roland Martin who, probably most notably, is a CNN commentator. Martin was critical of Sarah Palin in a column he wrote. As David Letterman discovered, not much gets the righties tighties in a bunch more than virtually any criticism of Sarah Palin. For the record, Martin is black (but you will see that quick when you see some of the racism directed at him by some cowardly and racist Fox Nation visitors).

Here is a screen shot captured by News Hounds:

Over the years, I’ve heard Bill O’Reilly be very critical of blogs like Daily Kos and Huffington Post for nasty comments posted by visitors. But, it seems people like O’Reilly are very silent about O’Reilly (unless he has done a segment that I’ve not seen criticizing Fox Nation).

Here is the other screen shot from News Hounds:

Is this what Fox is all about?

Where is the outrage from people like Bill O’Reilly?

Excellent work by News Hounds to catch this.